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Why Hologix Shares Popped

Is this meaningful or just another movement?

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Hologix(NASDAQ:HOLX) -- a maker of diagnostics, medical imaging systems, and surgical products -- jumped as much as 11% following a favorable study supporting its 3-D mammography technology.

So what: A study based on 12,631 patients at an Oslo hospital revealed that researchers using Hologix 3-D mammography technology in combination with a 2-D mammogram had a "significant increase in cancer detection rates." According to the study's figures, it increased discovery of invasive cancers by 40%, increased total cancer discovery by 27%, and reduced false-positives by 15%.

Now what: Being the first large study on 3-D breast cancer screening, the results appear to indicate that patients would benefit from the use of Hologix's mammography technology in a broad application. Hologix investors definitely have carrot to nibble on now considering that growth is expected to slow into the single digits in 2014. At just 12 times forward earnings, it isn't particularly expensive, and, assuming further studies support today's findings, we could see a big revenue surge over the next three to five years because of its 3-D mammography technology.

Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.

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Author

A Fool since 2010, and a graduate from UC San Diego with a B.A. in Economics, Sean specializes in the healthcare sector and investment planning. You'll often find him writing about Obamacare, marijuana, drug and device development, Social Security, taxes, retirement issues and general macroeconomic topics of interest. Follow @TMFUltraLong